Price of Fame

The Honorable Clare Boothe Luce

This concluding volume of the life of an exceptionally brilliant polymath chronicles Luce's progress from her days in Congress. Elected in 1943, she became the only female member of the House Military Affairs Committee, toured the Western Front and visited concentration camps within days of their liberation. Attracting nationwide attention, she lobbied for relaxed immigration policies for Asians and displaced European Jews, as well as equal rights for women and blacks. Following Hiroshima, she became a passionate advocate of nuclear arms control. But in 1946, she gave up her House seat, convinced that politics was "the refuge of second-class minds." She soon emerged as a formidable television personality, campaigning so spectacularly for Eisenhower that he made her ambassador to Italy. She took an uncompromising attitude toward Italy's Communist Party, then was stricken by a mysterious case of poisoning that the CIA kept secret. She went on to become a prolific journalist and magnetic public speaker, as well as a playwright, screenwriter, pioneer scuba diver, early experimenter in psychedelic drugs, and grande dame of the GOP in the Reagan era. Tempestuously married to Henry Luce, the publisher of Time Inc., she endured his infidelities while pursuing her own, and remained a practiced vamp well into old age. In later years she strengthened friendships with countless celebrities who visited her lavish Honolulu retreat. In 1973, she was appointed by Nixon to the President's Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board, a position she continued to hold in the Ford and Reagan administrations. Her death at 84 ended a life that qualifies Clare Boothe Luce for the title of "Woman of the Century."--From publisher description.

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Maybe if the biographer weren't so closely associated with Clare, I would have gotten a more in-depth portrait of her. All that was written were just repeated platitudes, overtures, and how lovely she looked in outfits. No real look into her working as a congressperson; only that it entirely seemed as if she was hated and loved in equal measure. Just because she was vocal about important issues. I know most men can't handle women having a voice in pretty much anything, I just wondered though at the biased and how her detractors were just simply brushed off as haters and no look further into their relationships with Clare. If we are to look at our former politicians fairly, than we need unbiased and honest accounts of their failures and triumphs, to make a uniformed opinion about both sides of the fence in which they landed or sat on. I'm sure Clare Booths Luce was a stunning politician and statesperson who fought very hard for the people, I just wanted a more realistic look at this vivacious woman. (I DNF)

It was not Ms Morris' writing that caused me to bog down but Claire herself. Midway through I realized that I was becoming less & less able to ignore the fact that the Honorable C B Luce was apparently incapable of really caring for anyone but herself. Perhaps one day when i am older & wiser, I will take it up again and find clues that I am currently missing. Perhaps she redeems herself in the end. But for now, I just can't slog through any more.